Here you - no doubt a typically judgemental, irksome conservative religious zealot - probably thought that being a whore, escort, stripper or dominatrix was sleazy work with no real future, and a distinct risk of abuse; that no one in their right mind who wanted to maintain healthy relationships with their partner, spouse or children would undertake such endeavors.

Wrong, wrong, wrong - as students and faculty will learn tonight at the University of California Santa Barbara when they see the Sex Workers Art Show. The show is paid for by the University's Women's Center, plus other university departments and institutions.

Prostitutes, strippers, dominatrices, phone sex operators and their peers intend to challenge embedded stereotypes tonight in the MultiCultural Center Theater (MCC) as part of the traveling Sex Workers Art Show....People think of [sex workers] as the lowlife under-belly of society, and it’s not fair because they have different talents like everyone else,” (UCSB Women's Center program director Sharon) Hoshida said. “The show gives a multidimensional look at sex workers as people and creative geniuses in their own right.”

While the cabaret has been well-received by audiences nationwide, Women’s Studies Dept. Chair Leila Rupp said many feminists and moral conservatives find its content offensive, believing the show promotes sexually exploitative lifestyles. “It will be controversial because some people can’t imagine something like sex work as art,” Rupp said. “It will open minds to how people might stand on the question, ‘Can you be involved in sex work as a legitimate form of work?’” Despite protests against the material, Hoshida said, sex work is prevalent to the extent that it cannot be ignored.

Especially when we're talking about modern-day sexual slavery, catalogued in the U.S. State Department's 2005 "Trafficking In Persons" report. I imagine there's quite an art to scamming young women into debt or servitude, moving them across national boundaries, and forcing them into indefinite prostitution or "hostessing" for recompense. Or maybe, actually, it's more a science than an art. I'll let the Women's Studies faculty at UCSB ponder that.

Hoshida said the Women’s Center has been planning the show since mid-November, and is using part of its $6,000 annual programming budget to produce the event. Other campus departments have lent help in sponsoring the art show, including the Art Studio Dept., the College of Creative Studies, the Sociology Dept. and the Queer Theories Reading Group in the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center. Although this is the Sex Workers Art Show’s first visit to UCSB, the MCC has put on similar events in the past such as the 801 Cabaret, which featured a traveling group of drag queens from Key West Florida, MCC Event Programmer Luniya Msuku said....“Our campus could use this experience to break down stereotypes,” Hoshida said. “It will make students think differently before they say, ‘She’s a prostitute’ or ‘[She’s] a whore.’”

Hillsdale College: looking better every day.

TECHNORATI TAGS: SEX WORKERS ART SHOW, UC SANTA BARBARA, WHORES, STRIPPERS, DOMINATRIX, ESCORT, TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, SEXUAL SLAVERY, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT, HILLSDALE COLLEGE